


Rewritten

by kindkit



Category: Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Genre: Gen, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-21 21:41:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/602363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kindkit/pseuds/kindkit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lawrence creating himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rewritten

**Author's Note:**

  * For [skazka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skazka/gifts).



He's never had a name that was not false. "Lawrence" was his parents' pretense of respectability, and of course he has no right to be called Chapman. As for the name he was christened under . . . he stopped answering to "Mary" at seven years old. He renamed himself Ned, tore up his dolls, cut off his hair with his elder brother's pocketknife, stole the same brother's outgrown trousers and toys. It was, he thinks now, his first war. He can't remember a day without a beating from seven years old to thirteen, but he held on. His body changed at thirteen, betrayed him in a way he can never forgive, but his mind held fast and his parents finally gave in. He's been Ned to them ever since.

But somehow, as hard as he fought for it, _Ned_ is a name he always feels on the verge of losing. It could be taken from him by anyone who found out the secret of his body.

He's never had a name that was not false. Until now. Until he became El Aurens, the man who crossed the Nefud to take Aqaba. Even Ali calls him El Aurens now, with respect and the extraordinary warmth that one man can show another among the Arabs.

Ned has written his own name in the desert and in the hearts of men. At long last he knows who he is.

**Author's Note:**

> Although this is film canon, Skazka's prompt inspired me to picture the character as resembling the historical Lawrence, who was short and slight, rather than the tall Peter O'Toole.


End file.
